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Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Thought Experiment : Use vs. Possession

When determining if something should be prohibited, at what point should it be illegal - when it is possessed, or when it is used criminally?

Suppose you had an object, that when used or stored responsibly, did not impact the lives of others or to the user (such as causing injury or property damage), but if used could lead to harm - either to self or others.

"Possess" means simply that - to have in one's possession, but not using.

"Use" means to use it for it's intended purpose - not a strange purpose. Umbrellas could be used as a parachute - a bad one, mind you, but it could. The danger of this definition is, of course, that some objects have more than one use - a claw hammer can both put in and pull out nails. So, you have to consider that as well.